VO 37mm Hammered Fenders

We asked VO customers what width the next model of VO hammered fenders should be, and 37mm was the overwhelming choice. They just arrived. The pattern is a little different from our 45mm hammereds; the indentations are smaller and the there is a smooth band at each side. We think it's a cool look that's a little sportier than the Honjo 35mm that we also stock. We recommend using them with 20-28mm tires, 700c.

New Brakes, Gran Compe 610 CNC

I came back from vacation to find that the new Gran Compe 610 brakes had arrived. The new 610s are super stiff CNC machined centerpulls with 47 to 61mm reach.

I'm really excited about these. Top of the line centerpulls generally have better stopping power than sidepulls, but what is more important is that they tend to have better modulation. That is, the brake pressure is more linear and controllable. Paul Racers have long been the only other high quality centerpulls available and we used to sell them. But at $133 per wheel, or $143 for the high polish version, they are simply too expensive for most. Fortunately the Gran Compe 610 are only $75.

Note that the version we sell have been upgraded with VO alloy cartridge brake shoes and VO pads. This makes adjusting toe-in easy and any Shimano-type pads fit. It was really nice of the folks at Dia Compe to accommodate us in this since they also make their own brake pads.

Another neat thing about these brakes is they fit frames made for either recessed or nutted brake bolts. Two bolt spacers are included to allow them to fit most older frames, as well as modern frames. We are trying to convince Dia Compe to also offer braze-on mounts for custom frames.

The front mini-racks for the 610s are on the way. These are neat little racks just big enough to support a handlebar bag. They just arrived in the US and should clear customs in a week or so.

Vacation Time at VO

Just wanted to let you know that there will be little, if any, blog activity for the next few weeks. Annette and I are leaving for vacation tomorrow. I'm traveling sans laptop, taking only an iPad which I might turn on for a few minutes a day. So please excuse if I don't return e-mails or post or tweet for a while. Info e-mails will still be answered by the staff.

Meanwhile, Tom is visiting VO distributors in Britain and will be soon be heading to Spain for a little well deserved R-and-R.

Kyle is finishing up grad school over the summer, so is only working part time.

And Heidi is taking her 16-year old son to California for a summer-long Olympic sailing clinic; he's been asked to try out for the 2012 US sailing team in Finn class.

But orders will get out promptly as always. Perry is acting general manager and the full warehouse staff, less Heidi, is present.  King Trygve is cleaning up the glitches on the new web site while Kyle attends to final design details. Robert will be building up wheels to test the new hubs and the new VO Raid rims (they are 22mm triple box section rims that look like wider PBP rims).

Hub News

The photo is of our VO freewheel hub. They use high quality Japanese bearings. The spoke holes on the drive side are slotted so broken spokes can be easily replaced with the freewheel in place, but we are still doing strength testing on this feature. We hope to have them for sale early this fall in 126mm and 130mm spacing. 120mm spacing is also possible if there is demand.

The VO flip-flop hub prototypes are also here, but the design is undergoing some cosmetic modifications that may require a bit of new tooling, so no ETA yet.


The pictured quick release is something we're still thinking about. Do you like it?

The VO cassette hub is taking a little more time to develop than we thought. I doubt we'll have them finished before late fall.

I recently mentioned a new dynamo hub design that I thought was revolutionary and might make existing high end dyno hubs obsolete. We have a production-ready sample that we'll be testing over the next few weeks. But I can already tell you that the build quality looks very impressive and, if my calculations are correct, it will cut overall rolling resistance by more than 50% compared to any other (production) dyno hub that I'm aware of, while maintaining the same 3w/6v output. If all goes well we should have them in around 3 months. The cost will be considerably lower than existing high-end dyno hubs. We do want to be clear that this is not technology developed by VO (we're not that smart), but from a small company we ran into almost by accident.  I'm sure that you have questions about them, but those are all the specs we'll reveal for now; sorry.

Grand Cru Crank Update

I know that a lot of you have been waiting for the Grand Cru 50.4bcd cranks. I had thought they would be here by now, but the factory has had some delays in testing the new tooling. Also, factory offices moved to a new location which slowed things down. In any case, the latest estimate is that they will be done about July 25th. We'll have a few hundred shipped by air and the rest by sea. Details on these cranks can be found at this post.

The VO 110bcd cranks should be done a few weeks later. We still don't have a firm ETA on the Grand Cru 110bcd cranks, but they are in production.

We've had some major delays in getting other products here on time because of new packaging. As we sell to more and more shops all over the world we find we need more refined retail packaging. And having those boxes and tags and backing cards made has been a real bottleneck. I would really prefer to have minimal packaging, just a poly bag and header card, but shops displaying VO products are asking for packaging that's more like Campy's and Shimano's.

I do apologize for being out of so many items. The super busy spring season really cleaned us out and we've once again seen growth beyond what I'd anticipated and planned for. The good news is that we should have two containers of products, including several new items, sailing in July.

Rando Photos

Bob sent some photos of his new VO Rando taken during The Cranbury 600K brevet:

He writes:

I put in 250 miles testing the bike with the combination of components I have laying around and some new parts before I decided in this final configuration. These photos were taken while I was riding a 600K brevet in NJ, "The Cranbury 600K." I am very impressed on how this bike rides, it turned out to be a fast and comfortable bike. It also climbs very well too which surprised me. So far in three week, a total of 640 miles and I am very happy with this bike. A lot of the cyclist riding with me in the brevet where very impressed with the looks and especially the frame, fenders, rack and bag. 

Thanks Bob!

That Frame Doesn't Fit!

We see a lot of folks building up frames which obviously don't fit them well. I think most of these folks know that the frames in question aren't right for them. But usually they explain that it was such a great deal they couldn't turn it down, or they can't afford a new frame. Sorry, but even a cheap production frame that fits well is always better than the best hand-built masterpiece that's too small or too big.

So here are my top three clues that a frame doesn't fit:

• The vast majority of frames should have stems between 80mm and 110mm We don't even sell 130mm or 140mm stems. If you need a stem that long your top tube is too short. By using a super-long stem you are also putting too much weight forward and compromising the bikes handling. Very short stems may be useful on city bikes, but even those are a compromise. 
• 15 to 30mm of seat post setback is all anyone should ever require, even with a Brooks saddle. Needing more means that either the top tube is too short or, more likely, the seat tube angle is too steep. There are those folks who convince themselves that having their seat way behind the BB allows them to apply more power. But that sort of turns your bike into a semi-recumbent. You end up loosing the ability to spin.
• An extra-long seat post on a conventional level-top-tube frame indicates a seat tube that's too short. I'm still in the "fist-full of post" school of fit.

Of course there are a few folks with disproportionately long or short, torsos, arms, or legs. And they often require custom frames for a proper fit. But most of us will find enough choices among the better production frames if we don't want a custom; there's no reason for an ill-fitting ride.

I'll post my simplified frame fit guidelines soon. But for know I just want to emphasize that fit is more important than any other characteristic in a frame. I don't care how famous the builder is, how special the tubing, how beautiful the lugs. If it doesn't fit you well then it's not worth riding.

Great Deals on the Specials Page

You might want to have a look at the VO Specials page. There are some spectacular deals there right now.

Since we're still hoping to have the new website up in a few weeks I wanted to get our inventory cleaned up. So we've been going through the warehouse looking for items that we have over-ordered. There are also some products that will change slightly with the next shipment and we're blowing out the old versions. And there are some items that we won't stock in the future. All these are on sale while they last, or until the inventory levels get back to normal.

On another subject, I stumbled across VO's "customer ratings" numbers from Yahoo Shopping. Of the last 500 ratings (that what's displayed) here's what we got:

447 Excellent

37 Good

3 OK

2 Bad

I do read all the ratings we get, but I've never looked at the numbers. Not too bad.

A Nice Freewheel System

Since we'll be getting our VO Freewheel hubs in a month or two, I've been thinking about multi-speed freewheels. I still don't think VO will make freewheels, but I'm at least exploring remote possibilities. So I dug around in the bins of unusual old parts that we keep for inspiration and found this new-old-stock Maillard 700 "Professional Team Issue" freewheel system.

 
It consists of a BSA-sized freewheel body and a range of cogs (from 13t-22t plus replacements) that can be built up as a 5 or 6 speed freewheel. There is even a removal tool and spare spacer included. I'd forgotten I had this and looking at it again I'm impressed by the idea. You could set up your cogs for each race or route, a straight block for a flat criterium or 13-22 for a hilly road race.

This is the only example of a kit like this that I've seen, but apparently there were five versions available. Note that three were Dural,  which is one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. Those might have been pretty expensive when new. My kit is "acier" or steel alloy.

If we do manage to find a factory that can make freewheels to our quality standards, we may attempt a kit like this one. But making really good freewheels is hard. I remember the problems when we sold Soma's IRD freewheels. So we might all be better off sticking to Shimano freewheels or looking for the better versions of the old Suntour and European units. Frankly, there is no good reason to use freewheels over cassettes on new bikes, other than a certain retro-cool factor. But they are needed to keep all those great older frames original and on the road.

By the way, if any of you collectors want this kit, shoot me an offer. I don't think I'll ever use it.

Spanninga

 I'm very impressed with Spanninga's latest lights. Since their acquisition of JOS and Hella, this Dutch company has been continually introducing new products and technologies.

The most interesting is their "Reverse-Beam Technology". They claim it's one of the most efficient LED systems available. The LED bulb is mounted just behind the lens and aimed rearward at a mirror that focuses and reflects the light. This  minimizes light loss and gives a strong focused and lateral beam. We just received a shipment of lights from from this Dutch manufacturer and two of the new models incorporating this system. The other Spanninga trend is that the new models are generally much lighter and smaller than the previous, while putting out more light.

 The first is the long awaited LED version of the Micro FF dynamo light. This light also has a safe stop feature that keeps the light on for about 4.5 minutes after you stop pedaling, very useful at traffic lights and stop signs. But what's most amazing, other than the brightness, is how tiny and lightweight (54g) this light is.

Though the Micro FF comes with a bracket and reflector, we usually remove them and use a VO light bracket to mount it on the front rack. This results in a lightweight and very compact, but powerful, headlight.

 The other new light with reverse beam technology is the Mega LED battery light. Again, this is a compact, light and very very bright unit.

The new rack mounted Plateo LED lights are available in dynamo and battery versions. The Plateo has a very bright steady light (not flashing) that can be activated automatically when it gets dark or turned on/off with the switch. It's very thin (22.4mm for the battery versions) and also very light (65g for the battery versions – incl. batteries). The dynamo version is even thinner and lighter. The mounting system allows it to be used on brackets with standard 50mm spaced holes (common in the USA) or on European racks with 80mm hole spacing. That dual spacing mounting is something we've been pushing for for years.

There is also a new and (excuse the repetition) lighter, smaller, and brighter fender mounted taillight, the Pixeo. Again it has the safe stop feature. A battery powered version is due in a few weeks.

Finally we have the new "Compact" taillight. It uses two AAA batteries that last about 140 hours in steady mode or 600 hours in flashing mode. With the "Light-Guide Technology" (patented by Spanninga), the Compact Rear offers an optimal rear and lateral visibility (220° visibility) since the light is also visible from the sides.

A Low-Battery-Indicator warns when the batteries need replacement. It's shock and water resistant. The housing is easy to open without any tools to replace the batteries. The Compact light offers various mounting options: it includes brackets to mount on a seat-posts or a seat-stay. It can also be clipped on a saddlebag or on your jersey pocket with the built-in clip. Not bad for $18.

Cirque du Cyclisme

This is a reminder that the 13th annual Cirque du Cyclisme takes place this weekend in scenic Leesburg,  VA.

In addition to rides, seminars, and more cool bikes than you'll ever see in one place, there is the swap meet. VO will be there with lots of seconds, prototypes, and overstock parts that have been taking up space in our warehouse.
 
Go to the Cirque site for all the details

Needle Bearing Headset

A few of you have asked about the upcoming VO needle bearing headset. I thought you might like to see this neat drawing:

I'm also kicking around the idea of a roller bearing bottom bracket.

We just received the final prototype of the Grand Cru high-low hub. We were going to use an alloy cassette body, but I changed it to chromo. It's just more practical and durable.

Some, but not all, versions of the VO-Maxi  hubs are in production, or very close.

Fender Update

Just wanted to let you know that we got another fender shipment and we have the new polished alloy VO 58mm fluted 650b fender. These fits tires up to 46mm wide.

We also have a more of our popular 45mm x 700c hammered fenders. These are selling very fast so we'll probably run out again.

And we have the VO 48mm x 700c fluted fenders again.

Finally, the 37mm x 700c alloy fenders are back. These fit tires up to 28mm.

Dajia Racks

We're importing a new rear rack. The Dajia Expedition Rack a sturdy stainless steel rack intended for loaded touring. It's not as nicely made as a VO rack, but both the quality and price are impressive.

It has a sandblasted gray finish and is perfectly sized for 700c wheels, but can be used on 26" and 650b frames as well. There a rear light mount with holes at the standard 50mm spacing. There are pump pegs spaced at 235mm. Maximum load is 25kg, or about 55lbs.

Note that this rack is intended for real touring frames, so if your frame has short chain stays and you have big feet, there might be heel clearance issues.

Matching front low-rider racks should arrive by late summer. Velo Orange front and rear camper racks are also in the works, but they will be considerably more expensive.

Miscellany

Random things:

I see so many bikes with incorrectly installed toe clip straps. Here is how they should look. Note that straps should be a tight fit through the holes in the pedal body. This is so they don't shift while pedaling. In addition, it's wise to add a twist in the strap to further prevent shifting.

I've also seen a few bikes with fender eyelet bolts incorrectly assembled. Usually the problem is that the cup-washer is reversed and the stay rattles in the eyelet bolt. Below is the proper assembly sequence. Note that the cup-washer faces up so it tightens on the stay. The fender goes between the flat washer and cup washer.

I think white Pasela tires look really cool, especially if you ride in a Panama hat. We have them in 700 x 28mm size.

We've decided to introduce VO needle bearing headsets. They are already in production and will be priced between the VO and Grand Cru headset. Stack height will be 37mm and they will be available in ISO size only. Needle bearings have more surface area than ball bearings so they usually last longer. The added surface area also prevents indexing, the clicking that results from little pits formed by worn ball bearing races. Needle bearing headsets are also said to reduce fork shimmy.  We should have them in late August.

Rinko Fenders

I've written about Rinko in the past. "The basic idea is that if you put your bike in a "rinko-bukhuro" (a lightweight nylon bike bag) you can take it with you in the passenger compartment of a Japanese train. Since Japanese trains are fast, punctual, and plentiful, this seems a fantastic way to tour various areas of the country in one visit."

To facilitate Rinko, Honjo makes fenders that have removable sections. We ordered a sample set of 50mm hammered Honjo fenders early last year. They finally arrived. We had planned on stocking them, but ever increasing Honjo prices mean that they would now sell for over $250. That's a lot for a pair of fenders and I doubt we could sell enough to justify importing them. Still, I thought you'd like to see a couple of photos.

This set is designed for a bike with a front rack. The front fender is one piece and, presumably, will be attached in the normal manner and to the front rack. The rear fender has a quick release that allows the back section to be removed. Thus, when the fender section and both wheels are removed, the bike fits into a fairly compact Rinko bag (or into a Japanese closet.)

In addition to the joint in the fender, the Rinko fenders have special hardware with wing nuts at the dropout eyelets, so the stays can be easily removed without tools.

Before you ask, Perry already bought this set for his upcoming Banjo Camper frame. And, no, they cannot be special ordered unless you want 50 sets. Sorry.

The New Site

We're messing about with graphics and design elements for the new and improved VO web site. Kyle made this image, which I think is great.

Site development is coming along nicely and we're hoping to have the new version up in about 6-weeks. There will be a lot of added functionality and features, including re-stocking notification via e-mail and more shipping options. Are there any features or functions on other web sites you've seen that we should consider?

The LumiWink and Other New Stuff

 

We have a few new items. The strangest of these is the Japanese market Shimano Nexus LumiWink light that Tom managed to find. It has an LED bulb that flashes whenever the dyno is turning. It also has a standard 2.4w halogen bulb that lights when a photo cell detects low light level. There is no on-off switch. The instructions are in Japanese only, but there are pictures. Being Japanese, it mounts on the right side of the bike. This is a special purchase item and is non-returnable, but then they only cost $18 $10.

VO front Constructeur racks have made it back into production. The constructeur rack is a medium sized front rack that is attached to the dropout eyelets. It's made from polished tubular stainless steel, just like out other racks, and has eyelets for lights and a fender mount. We've received a small shipment by air freight and the rest should be here in about a month.

We also received more of the perpetually-out-of-stock Porteur racks.

Finally, we have a rather clever new rear quick release cable stop. It uses a keyhole-shaped slot to hold the stop/adjuster part, so it can be instantly detached to open the brakes for tire changes.

Pacenti Pari-Moto Tires

We just received the first shipment of Pacenti Pari-Moto 650b x 38mm tires. In fact, I think we're the first shop to have these.

Pari-Motos are a new very high quality and supple tires made by Panaracer in Japan. Panaracer also makes the Grand Bois, Col de la Via , and various Rivendell tires, but these are made in a new mold. The tread is a fine herringbone pattern, my favorite. The width is an honest 38mm on VO Diagonale rims. I suspect they will stretch to 39mm in a few days. That makes them a touch wider than Col de la Via tire and about as wide as the 42mm Hetre tires (which measured 39.5mm on my bike).

There are two versions. The all black tires use a 127tpi casing while the tan-wall tires use a 67tpi. This means that the black tires should, in theory, be a little more supple. In practice I doubt you'll notice a difference. The black version weighs 280g, while the tan is 300g.

Grand Cru 110bcd Crank

Here is a sneak peak of the Grand Cru 110bcd crank due in mid-summer. This rendering is not 100% accurate, but it's very close. The rings will be 48/34 and there will also be a triple version later. The crank is cold forged and the rings are full CNC 7075 alloy, so the rings should be super durable. The Q-factor is about 139mm and weight is around 670g. The price will be around $190. This crank will be one of two Grand Cru cranks; the other is the 50.4 bcd version. You like?

Leather Touring Shoes

We have long wanted to stock a traditional touring shoe that was reasonably priced, shoes that you can wear on a club ride or with office clothes.

The SRT707's uppers are full grain leather and the sole is rubber for easy walking. The midsole is fiberglass-reinforced nylon for comfort on long rides. They are SPD cleat compatible.

I know that I said  VO was not going to get into apparel, at least not for a year or two, but I really wanted a pair of these shoes for myself. And since I wanted them, wouldn't others? I've owned a couple of pairs of vintage touring shoes and loved the way the looked, but they never fit quite right. These are a little wider than the old European models, though I would call them medium width by modern standards, and the fit is much better. I also like that I can wear them with jeans or kahki shorts and they look like nice simple sports shoes, rather than futuristic carbon fiber space pods.

Velo Orange Saddle Care

For many years I've been wearing hiking boots made by Peter Limmer and Sons. Since 1919 this small New Hampshire company has been creating what are among the finest custom-made boots in the world. In fact, I used to live a few miles from their Intervale, NH shop and remember when they also had a climbing shop on the premises.

Many years ago I had a long discussion with Peter about leather care. I thought the latest high-tech treatments were the way to go, but Peter patiently explained how they broke down the leather and shortened the leather's useful life. He had developed a natural leather treatment that would not over-soften or break down the leather over the years. I've used it on my boots and saddles and briefcases ever since.

So when we decided to make a VO leather treatment we called Peter Limmer. It turns out that Peter rides a Brooks saddle (we're sending him a VO saddle ) and agreed to make a leather saddle treatment for us. It contains natural hydrocarbons, lanolin, silicone, oils, and a just little white camphor oil. That camphor oil was added because Peter's dog tried to eat the original mix, plus camphor oil smells nice.

A four ounce (118g) jar costs $8.50 and will last for many years. Compare that to $9.75 for 28g of Proofide!


By the way, I have a size 11.5W  11W pair of Limmer boots that's too small for me if anyone is interested. Update; they are sold.

Odds and Ends

A few new products and miscellaneous notes.

We have a small quantity of the new Kool Stop 4-bump Mafac-style brake pads. This style of pad has been very hard to find and we think it's great that they are being made again. So you can now rejuvenate those great old Mafac Raid brakes and put them on your new VP Rando or Mixte frame. We have only a small quantity now, but more are on the way.

 Our VO brake pads are now brick red (except the MTB straight-post). They are the same compound as the black and stop equally well; we simply like the look of the red pads.

Simplex retro-friction shifters may well be the best downtube shifters of all time, but they used an odd cylinder-shaped cable end. And replacement cables have been hard to find. Fortunately the new VO shift cables have a Simplex and and a standard end; cut off the one you don't need. Simplex produced shifters for several other companies, so if you have old shifters that require funny cable ends, try these. BTW, this was Tom's idea so all of us Simplex fans should thank him.

We have three new VO wheels, a 650b Diagonale/Formula fixie rear wheel, 700c Diagonale/Novatech dynamo, and 650b Diagonale/Shimano Nexus 8-speed. Several of you asked for the fixie wheel; let us know how you like them.

We are working to post better photos of our components. Kyle shot new VO and Grand Cru headset photos that I think are are a big improvement over the originals. There are also photos of the headsets dissembled so you can see the bearing and races. Now he'll have to shoot the rest of our components; see what happens when you do a good job.

On another subject, communication with VO, there have been some small changes of late. As we keep growing my duties here are shifting. For example, I no longer have time to personally answer technical and product information e-mails. That task has fallen to Kyle, Perry, and Pat. I think you'll find that they can take more time and provide a more thorough answer. Also, if you have questions specific to your bike, rather than general questions/comments related to a blog post, please e-mail rather than asking in the comments section.

That's all for now.

VO Mixte Frames Now Available

The VO Mixte is a fully lugged step-through frame. It is brass brazed from double butted chrome-molly tubing. It makes for a comfortable a city bike, but this is a light and stiff frame that will also be a pleasure on weekend tours or even club rides.



While mixte frames are traditionally though of as woman's frames in the US, in Europe they are often ridden as city bikes by men who values quick mounting and dismounting.

The Mixte has full braze-ons for fenders and racks, including douple drop-out eyelets. There is one bottle cage mount.

It is brass brazed from 4130 double-butted chrome-moly tubing. The wheels are 700c and maximum tire size is 38mm. It uses extra-long reach caliper brakes. Note that the rear caliper is elegantly mounted on the mid-stay, so there is no awkward cable routing as with many mixte frames. The rear dropouts are horizontal so either internally-geared or derailleur drive trains work perfectly. Frame geometry can be found here.

The headset is 1" threaded (ISO), brakes are extra long reach (55-73mm), BB is standard ISO (or British) with a spindle length to match your choice of crank, 27.2mm seat post, we suggest 45-55mm fenders, 132.5mm rear spacing so both road and MTB hubs fit.

We had a fairly small run of these made, so they may not last long. The price is $525, which I think is pretty remarkable for a double butted, fully lugged, mixte.